April 2008

April 28, 2008

Folks, Thanks for the overwhelming number of comments about the city budget. I was pleased to see lots of new voices on Hall Marks. Unfortunately you'll have to keep the debate going off-line for the next few days. I'm heading back to Nova Scotia to visit an ill family member. Hopefully I'll be back next week with some juicy blog posts to make-up for my absence.

April 23, 2008

Councillor Robert Pasuta stayed up last night writing a speech he hoped would sway council to phase out a subsidy to his community instead of killing it in one shot. He read it tonight, asking for compassion for his residents. You'll still achieve your goal, he told councillors, just in a less painful way. "You can afford to take the high road."
His comments opened the debate that turned ugly at times. In the end, council voted 8-7 to share the slots. The decision means some parts of Flamborough will see a tax increase of close to 10 per cent. There's already angry talk of a tax revolt and a renewed interest in deamalgamation. Outraged residents booed council tonight after the fight vote, calling "shame, shame." Above the commotion, there was one clear shout: "This means war."

Now the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce is weighing in. This email just went to council.

To Mayor Fred Eisenberger and all members of Hamilton
Council:

The Board of Directors (BOD) of the Flamborough
Chamber of Commerce (FCC) met in a special, emergency
session on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 to review and
consider the implications of the Committee of the
Whole (COW) decision on Monday, April 21, 2008 to take
the annual slot royalty revenues from flamboro downs
and distribute them across the entire ‘new’ City of
Hamilton.

It is our understanding that Council will consider
ratification of the COW decision when it meets on
Wednesday evening, April 23, 2008. When you do so, the
FCC BOD respectfully requests that you consider the
following:

The Chamber of Commerce is weighing in on council's decision to share slot revenue, which means up to a 9.8 per cent tax increase for some parts of Flamborough. President Tyler McLeod sent an email to council yesterday, here's some excerpts:

While the Chamber has no public policy position on the specific issue of allocation for Flamborough Downs Revenues; I do wish to remind Council that we do have a long standing position that strong sudden increases in property and business taxes should generally be avoided.

Unless something has changed in an individual rate payer's situation within their control, such as an improvement to their property which would cause say an assessment increase; tax payers should expect a reasonable predictability in their tax obligations.

April 22, 2008

If you’re planning to attend tomorrow night’s council meeting, come early. I know plenty of outraged Flamborough residents are planning to attend to protest council’s decision to share the Flamboro Downs slot revenue across the city. I’m sure it will be standing room only, especially after I just received this email inviting another group of angry taxpayers.

Heritage in Hamilton was dealt a major blow last week. The Balfour
Building is gone. While there are any number of areas of concern
related to its destruction, one that is perhaps most troubling is the
lack of leadership shown by our elected officials including ,and
perhaps most particularly, Mayor Eisenberger.

The building is gone, but the leaders of this city remain.

Will you please agree to attend the City Council meeting on Wednesday
night to show our disappointment with our current leaders? A large
showing of engaged but angry citizens from all walks of life and from
all parts of the city is an important image for Councillors and the
Mayor to see.

This is not a plan generated by radicals. It is a considered action
taken by people who are tired of Hamilton's heritage being destroyed
as a result of a lack of leadership. We trust that you agree.

We will convene outside of the Albion Room on the second floor of the
Hamilton Convention Centre at 6:55 pm. The Council meeting begins at
7:00 pm. We anticipate that your participation will not need to extend
beyond 7:15.

April 21, 2008

City council’s final budget meeting today will go down in history as one of the most drama-filled debates yet – and that’s an accomplishment in this city. The infamous slot revenue from Flamboro Downs was on the table and everyone was vying for a share.

Since amalgamation the money has stayed in Flamborough to offset its taxes – an arrangement originally started to help the town pay off its debt to fix Borer’s Creek. The debt is paid, opening the door to the debate on where the slot revenue should go now.
On the weekend Flamborough councillor Margaret McCarthy took out a full-page ‘call to action’ ad in the Flamborough Review urging her residents to come to today’s meeting and email councillors to stop them from taking the slot revenue away. The ad set the stage for today’s contentious debate.

Council had numerous options on the table, including maintaining the existing deal (which also included Ancaster to offset a new fire hall), phasing it out over several years or killing it immediately. When some urban councillors moved to kill the subsidy for Flamborough immediately, McCarthy immediately went on the defensive. She repeatedly interrupted the debate, forcing the mayor to call her out of order numerous times. At one point, she even took over the staff podium, suggesting her residents were paying for the city’s “pet projects.”

After staff pointed out the majority of Flamborough’s tax increases were caused by rising assessments, which the city doesn’t control, Councillor Sam Merulla stated the people of Flamborough were being “lied” to. That sparked another angry outburst from McCarthy. Eventually the mayor called a recess to restore order.

When the meeting resumed, several councillors argued they wanted the slot revenue shared as a matter of fairness to the whole city. It doesn’t make sense to phase it out, they argued, because the province is about to end its freeze on property assessments, which is expected to bring massive tax increases for residents across the city. If the city held off on pulling back the slots, Flambrough residents would likely point to the larger assessment and mistakenly blame the city when the slots was gone, noted Brad Clark.

Flamborough councillor Robert Pasuta chimed in to warn his colleagues that if anyone on council was planning to run for mayor, they would be wise to not tick off Flamborough and take away the slot money or “You’re toast.”

McCarthy made one last appeal, breaking down as she begged her colleagues to not punish her residents if they were only mad at her or Pasuta. Several councillors replied it was nothing personal.

A motion to phase out the slot revenue from Flamborough over three years failed. Then council voted 9-7 (Against: Eisenberger, Bratina, Ferguson, McCarthy, Pasuta, Mitchell, Powers) to share the slot money across the city immediately – causing a 10 per cent tax increase in Flamborough.
As he left, the mayor said he felt council had made the wrong decision that would cause acrimony for years to come. Outside, the Free Flamborough committee thanked council for reigniting the deamalgamation fight.

It was a lengthy debate and I could write pages more, but trust me, just watch council on Wednesday night and I’m sure you’ll see more fireworks for yourself.

April 14, 2008

“There will be a rebellion when the public gets engaged.” – Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson.

The prospect of dramatically reducing the number of lanes on Hamilton’s main arteries to make way for rapid transit sparked outrage from Ferguson today. He pointed to preliminary staff drawings that show Main and King streets reduced from four lanes to two wider traffic lanes. (See pages 19 to 25 in the staff report.) An additional lane, like now, would be used for parking and loading. But the rest of the road would be transit only, for either rapid buses or a light rail line.

While many on council heralded the proposal as groundbreaking and progressive, Ferguson believes the average taxpayers will oppose the plan. A sample of his comments:

“Where are the vehicles supposed to go?”
“The bulk of people who pay taxes in this community drive cars.”
“It’s just not fair to the bulk of the population.”
“This is our decade. We have to focus everyday on creating jobs, not creating congestion.”
“We need to kill this right now.”

City staff explained Hamilton must take radical steps if it’s going to reduce car trips by 20 per cent over the next decade. The idea is to get more people to use transit, so the traffic lanes aren’t as congested – a goal Ferguson says isn’t realistic when the road is reduced to two lanes.

How would you feel about reducing lanes on Hamilton’s main roads to make room for rapid transit?

April 10, 2008

Hamiltonians, prepare for a transit revolution! The city has released its first report on a new rapid transit system that promises to completely change how we get from here to there.

Two options are on the table: a rapid bus system with dedicated lanes and traffic light sensors or light rail transit. The first option is far cheaper and easier to implement, but would still mean dramatic changes on the road with drivers losing some lanes or even access to entire streets (James Mountain Road would become transit-only). The light rail system is nearly triple the price, but promises to attract more riders because of its ‘sex appeal’ and generate economic development along the corridor. Though its hourly operating rate is higher than a rapid bus, it carries at least twice as many people, making the per passenger cost cheaper. Debate is already raging about the best option, especially among pro-rail advocates. Councillor Brian McHattie thinks the city should stage the new system and start with a rail system from downtown to Mac.

Which option do you prefer?

By the way, before slamming both ideas as unaffordable or unrealistic for a city struggling with soaring taxes, please note the province has expressed interest in investing capital dollars into rapid transit projects, so the city would hopefully only be on the hook for the operating costs.

Nicole Macintyre

Nicole MacIntyre is the queen of kings. A married mother of two boys, including the world's former worst sleeper, she's also a reporter and parenting columnist at the Hamilton Spectator. A devotee of the 'whatever works' approach to child-rearing, Nicole has learned to never say "I'll never" when it comes to parenting.